Minutes - MISGA Board Meeting December 7, 2015 Page 1 of 4 Printed December 19, 2015 Attendees: Earl Gentry, John Babyak, Bob Burd, Clarence Moody, Tom Rowlett, Frank Tighe, Gary Manion, Ian Sumner, Clarence Johnson, Robert Fjelstad, Greg Morris, Mike Urquhart, Jim Wilcox, Pete Sorge, Carl Lazar, Bob Brewer, Tom Tarpley, Lloyd Stimson, Errol Myers, Tom Taylor, Ed Masood, and Jeff Hild. President Earl Gentry said that he had an interesting and unique year. He once had a rep tell him that all the Board Presidents do is go to functions and have their pictures taken. Not this year. Vice President Joe Baily was not at the meeting. Bob Burd had information about the Spring Fling. The Spring Fling would be the 3 rd to the 5 th of May. We ll play the Kingsmill Plantation course on the 3 rd, the River course on the 4 th and Kiskiack on the 5 th. The dinner will be at Kingsmill on the 4 th. On the subject of using fixed dates for the frolics, the coordinators should get the dates established and published 8 or 9 months before the events. If we set firm dates every year, the coordinator has no flexibility to deal with things like the LPGA event at Kingsmill. The LPGA has an event at Kingsmill in the middle of May so we had to select different dates. If Joe had known the issue with timeshares he could have done things differently. Some associates had already obtained timeshare rentals for the second week of May. Secretary s Report John Babyak read the minutes of the September 8 th minutes were accepted as read. meeting. The Introductions Since there were a number of new people at the meeting, Earl asked everyone to introduce themselves. Treasurer s Report Dick Schwinger was not at the meeting. He sent word that he had sent out the rebate checks to the divisions. Division Director s Reports Division I Bob Burd said that Rookery has completed the purchase of Shawnee. So we are officially Rookery North and Shawnee has been dropped. They are only going to have one mixer this year and if it goes well we might have more. The problem is the cart fees, they have two groups, Indian River and Longneck, who come in and pay about $40 to play with no lunch included. They have seventeen events scheduled with 80-100 players. A lot of players on the Eastern Shore do not like to travel. Caroline C.C. is closing at the end of this month. Harbourtowne has been purchased by a hotel and they are going to be a resort, like the Hyatt Regency, possibly with no memberships. Division II Clarence Moody said that the division had a good year. There is still a possibility that Hollow Creek will come back into MISGA. They changed the name of the club to Richland. Div II will have new directors next year. Tom Rowlett will move up to Director and Ed Masood will be Asst Director. In the annual report for our Division you can see that we had pretty good representation by most clubs. Division III Caroline CC is gone. Harbourtowne will be closed for 2016 but they plan to participate in away events. River House is up for sale but the rep is scheduling MISGA events as if it will be business as usual. Frank Tighe is leaving as Director and his Asst director has also resigned. They have someone for the Director position. Prospect Bay will host the Annual Reps meeting on April 11 th.
MISGA Board Meeting December 7, 2015 Page 2 of 4 Printed December 19, 2015 Division IV Gary Manion said that there is a rumor that Argyle CC may be interested in rejoining MISGA. There is a Div IV luncheon in December. Besides Div IV reps there are other people, including the Board, that are invited. There will be nine Past Presidents at the luncheon. Ian Sumner will not be able to take over as Director so Jim Wilcox will be the Div IV director and will become the MISGA Vice President in 2016. Division V Clarence Johnson said that the division had a pretty good season. The Bay Club is closed. Clarence will be stepping down as Div Director and Bob Fjelstad will step down as Asst Director. Div V will select new leadership sometime after the 1 st of the year. Division VI Earl Gentry said that the Div VI ABCD will be at Patuxent Greens and the Twoman will be at Tantallon. In 2015 the division generated $153,677. Timbers at Troy, in four events, generated $18,180. Committee Chairmen Reports Associates Mike Urquhart distributed a membership report. The number of associates is down 129 members from last year, to 2942. The number of clubs is down to 56. Membership is aging and we are not getting younger members to join. In the report, Caroline CC is not included. Timbers at Troy is included and they have 65 members. Lloyd Stimson said that he uses this report to do his allocations for the state tournaments. Audit Jim Wilcox said that he has audited all of the reports that has come into him this year. He just got the Carroll Valley report and will be working on that. At Hobbits Glen they are getting a lot of younger golfers into the senior group and MISGA. Events Pete Sorge said that for the Fall Frolic at Seabrook he had four other, beside himself, Board members attend, Manion, Morris, Myers and Babyak. The event went well, with a little bit of rain. We had a good turnout. He had more non-golfing women than he has ever had. They had a pretty good time. He has several venues in mind for the Fall Frolic in 2016. He is talking to Kiawah and Jekyll Island. Historian No Report, Earl Gayler was not at the meeting. It was mentioned that we may need a new Historian because Earl is in Florida a lot of the time. Membership Carl Lazar said that Queenstown and Rolling Road have no interest. Oak Creek might be interested. Whiskey Creek has four outings per week and has no interest. Walden might be interested in coming back in. There was a discussion about traveling members from private and public clubs. MISGAGRAM Bob Hodges was not at the meeting. Tournament Chairman Lloyd Stimson sent out a report. The first item in his report was the expenses that he incurred for the tournaments. The total of expenses was $796.52. The 2016 tournament schedules are posted on the website. The Two-man will be at Wild Quail on Aug 14 th and the ABCD will be at Norbeck on Aug 11 th. On the Tournament Information section of the website contains a ton of information about the tournaments. Web Master Errol Myers reminded everyone that a lot of positions on the Board are changing so he would like to have that information. The same is true for changes to club reps. This also applies to information from Committee Chairmen.
MISGA Board Meeting December 7, 2015 Page 3 of 4 Printed December 19, 2015 Policy and Planning Bob Brewer said that the committee has done the work on trying to sort out changes. They have written a new constitution but the by-laws are a little more complicated. He made a motion to accept the new constitution as written on 11-21-2015. Tom Tarpley suggested that someone else make the motion. The motion was made and seconded. The motion was accepted. Bob thanked the committee and those that communicated with him about changes. Earl commended Bob for the effort that he put in and said that he did an outstanding job. Bob made a comment about bonding of officers and the MISGA liability policy. PP ad hoc Tom Tarpley said that he had no report. Rules and Handicap Bob Brewer submitted a report. Jeff Hild is taking over from him as the new chairman. Tom Tarpley Tom said that he had an award from the President and MISGA for dedication and perseverance. It was given to Bob Brewer. It consisted of two glasses with the MISGA emblem on them. Old Business Timbers at Troy Earl said that we need a vote to accept Timbers at Troy to permanent status in MISGA. They have 69 members and total revenue for the year was over $15,000 for Div VI. Earl made a motion to accept Timbers at Troy. It was seconded and approved. Earl said that he would send a e-mail to the rep stating that they are a full member of MISGA. New Business Winter Fling and Ocean Pines Earl said that he has sent the Board copies of the history of dealing with Nelson Fenwick. When Nelson assumed the duties as coordinator of Ocean Pines and in February of 2014 he signed a contract with Plantations Resort for the 2015 Fling, without fully understanding what was in the contract. He was told to sign the contract and perform administrative duties for the balance of the Fling. Nelson signed the contract but the contract had some major issues in it, i.e. a $10,000 deposit, a set number of rooms, and several dollar penalty clauses if the numbers were not met. Ocean Pines wrote a memo requesting the Board to provide about $8,000 to cover the difference in the cost of Ocean Pines going to the Plantation Resort. The contract called for 35 rooms and Ocean Pines only had a commitment for 17 rooms. The Board turned them down so Nelson was hanging out there saying he signed the contract and is personally liable. Earl sent a memo to the divisions asking if they could increase the number of participants. Because of that memo the number of rooms increased from 17 to 23. Pete Sorge gave Nelson guidance on how to deal with the resort to accept 23 rooms without a penalty. Nelson got the resort to accept it. The Fling took place with no problems. In February of 2015 Nelson get the same contract for 2016, 35 rooms, $10,000 deposit and penalty clauses. In the past we have told Nelson that he has to send the contract to the Events Chairman. He did. Pete came back with a page of things that need to be adjusted. There were three major things that needed to be adjusted, the number of rooms, damages and the deposit. Nelson had discussions with Plantations and we have an e-mail from Plantations that they reduced the room number from 35 to 20 and eliminated the cancellation clause. Earl has a statement from Plantations that stated any other reduction would require a change in the price to the individuals coming. Pete had recommended zero as the number of rooms and also recommended that we eliminate the liquidation and cancellation penalties. In March, Nelson asked Ocean Pines how many people would be going in 2016. He got very little response. Earl suggested that Nelson contact all of the Division Directors to ask all of the reps about going. He
MISGA Board Meeting December 7, 2015 Page 4 of 4 Printed December 19, 2015 received about 14 or 15 maybe responses. We also got very little response at the April Reps meeting. Earl told Nelson that we need to get the contract signed so that we have location, dates and prices in order to advertize the FLING.. A few weeks later on April 29 th Nelson resigned stating that I am not a contract negotiator nor a publicity agent. Yet Nelson performed these functions for the 2015 Fling. So we needed a new coordinator for the Fling. Earl went to Ocean Pines and Div V and asked for a coordinator. No response. In June, Earl put in the MISGAGRAM that we needed a coordinator. No response so MISGA cancelled the 2016 Winter Fling. Later Nelson comes out with the Winter Bash. He said that this is not a MISGA event and that they were disappointed that MISGA had cancelled the Winter Fling so they went out on their own with the Winter Bash for Ocean Pines and friends. They sent out invitations to all of the MISGA people that participated in the Winter Fling. Nelson said this is not a MISGA event so they don t have to follow MISGA rules. Earl said that there is a responsibility of Div V and/or Ocean Pines to provide a Winter Fling for MISGA. It is in the bylaws. Earl was asking the Board to approve setting up a committee, according to the by-laws, with a chairperson, the Division Director, the Assistant Director and four associates, two from the club and two from the Board. He just wants the committee to get all of the information that Nelson has told Ocean Pines vs support from MISGA. Ocean Pines said that they were tired of going to Plantations. Earl thinks that major damage has been done to the reputation of MISGA with Ocean Pines and maybe other clubs in Div. V. Pete said that he doesn t think that Ocean Pines should be penalized for the actions of people who were running the event. The Board felt that there should no action against Ocean Pines since they had no responsibility for the event. Discussion followed. MISGA reps will meet with Ocean Pines reps to discuss the issue(s).. Ocean Pines will go forth with their Winter Bash. Rent a MISGA Club Rep Support Tom Rowlett said that there are clubs that are floundering and can t get a club rep to get them started. He would like to provide them with an experienced rep from a pool of reps to help them go through the process. It would be done under the Membership Committee. Discussion followed. New President and Vice President Earl looked for a motion to elect a new President. There was a motion to elect Tom Rowlett as the President in 2016. The motion was seconded and approved. Jim Wilcox will be the new Vice President. Location of March Meeting- Tom Rowlett is looking at a couple of locations. Wrap-up The meeting was adjourned at 12:20..
Division III Report for Board of Directors Meeting December 7, 2015 Report - Division III ends 2015 with a fairly successful year. home mixers and travelling to other clubs. Most clubs were very active in hosting Club Status - We began the season with seven clubs Caroline, Chester River, Choptank, Harbourtowne, Hog Neck, Prospect Bay and Riverhouse at Easton Club. There has been activity in the status of our clubs as follows: 1. Caroline has withdrawn from MISGA 2. Harboutowne has changed ownership and is undergoing a major remodeling. The golf course will be closed for the 2016 season. The MISGA club plans to participate by attending only away mixers and will resume full activity in 2017. 3. Riverhouse at Easton Club is being offered for sale. Their MISGA Rep, Larry Patterson, plans to establish a schedule for 2016 assuming that they will be able to gain support for the new owners. 4. The remaining four clubs plan to conduct business as usual and are aggressively establishing schedules for 2016. Division Status Frank Tighe and John Robinson will no longer be able to serve as Division III Director and assistant director. Mal Peterson has agreed to assume the duties of Director, but an Assistant Director has yet to be identified. Division financial report has been submitted. Prospect Bay will again host the Annual Representatives Meeting on April 11,, 2016. Respectfully submitted, Frank Tighe, Jr. Director, MISGA Division III
MISGA ASSOCIATES DUES SUMMARY, BY DISTRICT DECEMBER 7, 2015 DIVISION # of Clubs 2013 2014 2015 1 Year Change ONE 10 431 433 423-10 TWO 13 708 623 542-81 THREE 6 286 321 304-17 FOUR 7 743 738 687-51 FIVE 8 266 251 216-35 SIX 12 770 704 769 65 TOTALS 56 3204 3070 2941-129
MISGA ASSOCIATE DUES SUMMARY FOR 2013, 2014 AND 2015 TOTAL CLUBS 56 2013 2014 2015 2013 2014 2015 DIVISION I CLUB PAID PAID PAID 2 YR DIFF DIVISION IV CLUB PAID PAID paid 2 YR DIFF CRIPPLE CREEK 101 70 80 80 10 ARGYLE 432 67 53 0 67 EAGLE CREEK 104 51 55 55 4 HOBBITS GLEN 434 98 108 118 20 MAPLE DALE 106 24 24 24 0 KENWOOD 435 118 124 118 0 ROOKERY NORTH 111 52 52 52 0 MANOR 437 112 102 98 14 WILD QUAIL 115 47 50 50 3 MONTGOMERY 438 103 96 98 5 GARRISIONS LAKE 117 57 42 42 15 NORBECK 440 84 85 82 2 JONATHAN'S LNDG 121 49 44 44 5 LEISURE WORLD 441 80 84 85 5 SUSSEX PINES 123 16 15 15 1 BRETTON WOODS 442 81 86 88 7 BEAR TRAP DUNES 125 58 61 61 3 HOOPERS LANDING 126 7 10 10 3 Division TOTALS 10 431 433 433 2 Division TOTALS 8 743 738 687 56 DIVISION II CLUB PAID PAID PAID 2 YR DIFF DIVISION V CLUB PAID PAID paid 2 YR DIFF BEAVER CREEK 214 66 62 51 15 EASTERN SHORE 503 21 21 17 4 HOLLY HILLS 216 37 28 23 14 ELKS 505 0 10 7 7 HUNT VALLEY 217 41 33 27 14 GREEN HILL 507 15 17 13 2 PINEY BRANCH 218 27 25 0 27 NUTTER'S 511 40 47 46 6 ROLLING ROAD 219 20 0 0 20 OCEAN CITY 513 42 34 31 11 SPARROWS POINT 220 45 37 28 17 OCEAN PINES 514 68 64 55 13 GLADE VALLEY 224 68 64 62 6 GREAT HOPE 519 23 24 22 1 QUAIL VALLEY 226 55 46 44 11 DEER RUN 522 37 28 25 12 WESTMINSTER NATL 227 37 33 25 12 BAY CLUB 523 20 6 0 20 WINTERS RUN 228 34 22 23 11 RATTLEWOOD 229 64 66 66 2 CHALLEDON 230 44 57 50 6 CRESS CREEK 231 40 36 36 4 MUSKET RIDGE 232 80 78 82 2 FOUNTAIN HEAD 233 50 36 25 25 Division TOTALS 15 708 623 542 166 Division TOTALS 9 266 251 216 50 DIVISION III CLUB PAID PAID PAID 2 YR DIFF DIVISION VI CLUB PAID PAID PAID 2 YR DIFF CAROLINE 302 17 0 17 BAY HILLS 610 72 69 69 3 CHESTER RIVER 303 67 67 0 CHARTWELL 623 41 35 35 6 HARBOURTOWNE 305 44 44 0 CROFTON 625 82 103 103 21 PROSPECT BAY 309 93 93 0 PATUXENT GREEN 627 32 29 29 3 RIVER HOUSE 319 36 36 0 NATIONAL (Tantallon) 629 71 72 72 1 CLEARVIEW 320 22 22 0 UNIV. OF MD 630 43 49 49 6 HOG NECK 322 42 42 0 US NAVAL ACDMY 631 112 99 99 13 WALDEN 636 34 0 0 34 BOWIE 641 50 48 48 2 FAIRWAY HILLS 642 98 95 95 3 CROSS CREEK 645 53 41 41 12 COMPASS POINTE 646 82 64 64 18 TIMBERS OF TROY 647 65 0 Division TOTALS 7 286 321 304 18 Division TOTALS 13 770 704 769 1 YEAR PAID YEAR Clubs 2015 2941 2015 56 2014 3070 2014 59 2013 3204 2013 62 2011 3582 2011 68 2010 3667 2010 65 2009 3710 2008 3845 1
12/7/2015 MISGA Board of Directors Meeting December 7, 2015 Policy and Planning Report At the September Board of Directors meeting I briefly presented the significant changes expected for the Bylaws and Constitution, but I primarily wanted the opinion of the Board concerning the possible revision to eliminate the four-year term limit for voting members of the Board. The consensus of the Board on this issue was that it was important to keep the four-year term. There were no other objections to the expected changes that were presented. A draft of the revised MISGA Constitution has been prepared by the Policy and Planning Committee for consideration at the December Board of Directors meeting. All current Board members were sent a copy of the draft, and a motion will be presented at the Board meeting to approve the revised document. An approval by 2/3 of all eligible voting members of the Board is required to accept the new version, so it is important that as many voting members of the Board as possible be at the December meeting. Should the revisions to the Constitution be approved by the Board, they will need a final approval at the April Annual Reps Meeting to become official. The Policy and Planning Committee completed its review of MISGA Bylaws. Numerous revisions have been proposed and I am in the process of making the rewrites. This is a pretty large undertaking, but I hope to have the revisions ready for review and approval at the March Board of Directors meeting. The Guidelines section of the current MISGA Club Representatives Handbook is also under review. This section of the Handbook will be revised by the committee and revisions do not need approval by either the Board or the Club Reps. Jeff Hild is taking the lead on making those revisions, and the committee would welcome comments from the Board and from the Club Reps. I am requesting that Division Directors pass on this request for comments to the Club Reps in their divisions. Bob Brewer MISGA Policy and Planning Chairman
12/7/2015 MISGA Board of Directors Meeting - Rules & Handicap Report Bob Brewer As Chairman of the Rules and Handicap Committee for the past two years this is what I ve learned: Rules: I play with a lot of golfers who don t like to follow the rules. MISGA mixers are a hot bed of offenders who put winning the little prizes above being fair with the other competitors. It s not that hard to learn the basics, and, if you don t understand a rule, you have 1) support from your peers, 2) support from the division and state rules and handicaps chairmen, and 3) the easily accessible USGA Rules of Golf. There are a few Associates interested in playing according to the rules, but I ve learned that most guys (and girls) just wanna have fuun. Handicaps: In spite of those who complain about Associates who are not correctly (or honestly) maintaining their handicaps, very little progress has been made to assure that everyone is correctly entering all of their scores. The core of this problem is at the club level, where it should be. Peer reviews are not happening, and many club handicap committees are not particularly vigilant. Good luck to Jeff Hild, who will be taking over for me. Bob Brewer MISGA Rules and Handicap Chairman
MISGA BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING Cross Creek Golf Club Mon., Dec. 7, 2015 MISGA Tournament Chairman s Report 1. Financial Report 2015 MCTs Expense Item Binders & Insert Tabs (for Tournament Coordinators) Envelopes (business & bubble wrap) 1 box each Amount $10.98 7.98 Postage 25.20 6 Trophies (incl. engraving) 584.76 Travel (3 round trips) 167.70 TOTAL $796.62 2. 2016 MCTs Schedule Championship Host Club Date Rain Date 2-Man Team Wild Quail CC (Div I) Wyoming, DE Thursday August 4, 2016 Thursday September 1, 2016 Past Presidents (ABCD) Norbeck CC (Div IV) Rockville, MD Thursday August 11, 2016 Monday August 29, 2016 3. 2016 Division Qualifiers Schedules As each division establishes its 2016 qualifiers schedule, the Division Tournament Chairmen (DTC) should forward the dates to me for posting on the MISGA website. Open the link below. http://www.misga.org/tournaments/2016_tournaments.pdf 1
4. MISGA Championship Tournament Information You can review all documents associated with the two MCTs (Entry Forms excepted) in the Tournament Info section on the MISGA website - http://www.misga.org/tournaments.htm The currently posted documents are list below. 1. MISGA Tournament Guidelines 2. Guidebook for Conducting a MISGA Championship Tournament 3. 2016 MCTs & Divisional Qualifier Schedules 4. 2015 Past Presidents (ABCD) Tournament Results 5. 2015 2-Man Team Tournament Results 6. MCTs Past Results & History 7. Tutorial Interrupted Tournament Procedure The documents for the 2016 Divisional Allocations and the Flyers for the two 2016 MCTs will be posted in the Tournament Info section in early 2016. Stim Lloyd Stimson MISGA Tournament Chairman (MTC) 2
Rent-A-MISGA Club Representative Proposal There have been a number of instances in the last few years where we have heard that a club would join MISGA if only they could identify a club representative willing to put in the time and effort to make it possible. With declining numbers in MISGA clubs and overall membership, I recommend that the Board approve an initiative to identify which golf clubs would be interested in joining MISGA provided a club representative could be provided to help them. The proposal has been referred to as the Rent-A-MISGA Club Representative initiative. The idea is to find several present or former club representatives to volunteer to work with prospective clubs looking at MISGA membership but lacking someone from within to become a club representative. We do not underestimate the role of the club representative, but rather are looking for additional club membership with an eye to recruiting an internal club representative in the future. Jeff Hild, the club representative at Musket Ridge has volunteered to try this approach with a prospective club. The idea is to provide minimum service to the interested clubs using the sign-up and correspondence system that is being used at eight current member clubs and providing longdistance support for other things necessary to meet MISGA standards. If this approach is approved, I recommend that the Chairman of the Membership Committee be charged with identifying clubs that may fit this initiative and set up a meeting with a designated Rent-A-MISGA Club Representative volunteer to see if we can make this work.